1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shield connector having a shell used to electromagnetically shield a terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 is an exploded view showing a known shield connector. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the state where the known shield connector of FIG. 5 is assembled.
A known shield connector 200 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 includes plural PCB terminals 201 and 202; an inner housing 203 which hold the PCB terminals 201 and 202; an inner shell which includes two components of a front shell 204 and a back shell 205 attached to the outer surfaces of the inner housing 203 so as to shield the PCB terminals 201 and 202; a tubular outer housing 206 which accommodates the inner shell attached to the inner housing 203; and an outer shell 207 which is attached to the outer periphery of the outer housing 206 so as to shield the PCB terminals 201 and 202 and is attached to a housing.
Each of the PCB terminals 201 and 202 is configured as an L-shaped terminal including an opposite-side connection portion fitted to an opposite terminal and a substrate-side connection portion that extends in a direction perpendicular to the opposite-side connection portion and is connected to a print substrate.
The inner housing 203 and the outer housing 206 are formed of an insulating synthetic resin. In addition, the front shell 204, the back shell 205, and the outer shell 207 are obtained by performing a pressing process on a metal plate.
In the above-described shield connector 200, the plural PCB terminals 201 and 202 are inserted into the inner housing 203, and the inner housing 203 is fitted between the front shell 204 and the back shell 205. At this time, a locking protrusion 241 provided in the front shell 204 is locked to a locking portion 231 provided in the inner housing 203, and a bent piece 251 provided in the back shell 205 is locked to a locking portion 242 provided in the front shell 204, thereby electrically connecting the front shell 204 and the back shell 205 to each other so as to be attached to the inner housing 203.
The inner shell (204 and 205) attached to the inner housing 203 is inserted into the outer housing 206, and the outer housing 206 is inserted into the outer shell 207, thereby obtaining the assembled shield connector 200 shown in FIG. 6. At this time, a locking piece 243 provided in the front shell 204 is locked to a locking portion provided in the outer housing 206, and a press-fitting piece 254 provided in the back shell 205 is press-fitted to a press-fitting hole portion provided in the outer housing 206.
In addition, when the outer housing 206 is inserted into the outer shell 207, a spring piece 255 provided in the back shell 205 comes into contact with the inner surface of the outer shell 207 so that the front shell 204, the back shell 205, and the outer shell 207 are electrically connected to one another. In addition, the front shell 204 and the back shell 205 are grounded in such a manner that respective soldering portions 244 and 253 thereof are soldered to the print substrate (see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-38725
Incidentally, in this kind of shield connector, since a shield performance becomes larger as a gap between shells surrounding the terminal becomes smaller, in order to ensure a high shield performance, the known shield connector 200 includes the inner shell formed by two components of the front shell 204 and the back shell 205 so as to minimize a gap of the inner shell. That is, an opening of the front shell 204 is configured to be covered by the back shell 205. In addition, the outer shell 207 is also provided so as to reinforce a shield performance. Likewise, the known shield connector 200 uses three components of shells.
However, in the above-described known shield connector 200, since the inner shell is formed by two components, a problem arises in that the number of components increases and trouble is taken for the assembling operation. In addition, in the case where the shell for shielding the terminal is formed by one component, since an entrance or leakage of noise occurs in an opening, which is used to insert the terminal into the shell, it is difficult to improve a shield performance.